Despite the hectic holiday weekend, it does include a Friday. So even if you’re weary of talking food and making food and eating food, chant Gobble three times and breathe deeply. I promise to keep this short.
A family tradition, spending Thanksgiving week-end in Death Valley. We start with our holiday dinner at the old, glorious Inn at Furnace Creek, a four-diamond resort built in 1927. The menu is always ambitious and, this year, Chef Renée outdid himself.
My family spent the Thanksgiving week-end in Death Valley National Park, the ancentral homeland of the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe and the largest American park outside of Alaska. Since DV is located midway between Las Vegas/Henderson, where I live now, and Bishop, California, where my children live, I have either traveled to or through this park for the past eight years. I love everything about it.
I would guess that most of you have never visited DV. Please do. Of the park’s 3.4 million acres, 91% is wilderness. It is world renowned for its colorful, complex geology and its elevation extremes. Besides being beautiful, it boasts being the hottest, lowest and driest location in the entire country.
In deference to me, everyone wears their Sunday best to Thanksgiving dinner. Ever the good sport, Stephen rises to the occasion, wearing his “holiday” tie, to please his mother-in-law.
This park gets a bad rap by its name. Today there is very little deathly about it. According to the USPS, it’s home to species of all kinds: 51 mammals, 307 bird, 36 reptile, 2 amphibians, 5 fish and a few Park Rangers. Armed with John McPhee’s 1981 tome, “Basin & Range” and two elementary books on DV geology, I spent two days hiking, focusing on the area’s geologic story. Although I’m very familiar with DV, I’ve never concentrated on its geology – it’s a WoW.
Also a WoW is this week’s FFWD recipe choice, Herbed Olives.
Many of my favorite grocery and speciality stores offer olive bars with its numerous bins loaded with every variety of these little wonders. I cannot remember ever thinking that I should buy the plainest variety of olives possible and season them myself………until this week.
Herbed Olives – this week’s FFWD recipe
Dorie provides us with the basic proportions of olives to oil and then urges us to go crazy with herbs/spices for flavoring. I made these several days ago, using an orange-flavored olive oil, Olea Farm’s Orange Blush, and adding rosemary, thyme, corriander seeds, peppercorns, garlic cloves, bay leaves, red pepper flakes and orange strips.
Admittedly, these are not your average, grocery store bar-olives. These tangy little gems have a wonderfully pungent taste, making them a perfect nibble at cocktail hour. Something to try, at least once!!!
There is no dress code after Thanksgiving Dinner. The rest of the week-end is devoted to hiking, biking, swimming in the natural spring-fed pool, just hanging out at the Ranch at Furnace Creek. Every the competitive family, we are all still working hard at trying to be humble winners and good sports at losing. (Not quite there yet.)
To find the recipe for these delicious morsels, go here. To see what other spices and herbs my colleagues used in this week’s recipe, go to the French Friday with Dorie link.
(Note: If you are interested in the geology of Death Valley, you might enjoy “An Introduction to the Geology of Death Valley” by Michael Collins and “A TripThrough Death Valley’s Geologic Past, The Magnificent Rocks of Death Valley“. Or, better yet, why not go to your closest national park, pick up a few local geology books at its visitors center and learn about how it came into being.)
Saturday I received an e-mail from a friend who lost her mother in September. Although her e-mail was upbeat, she did say this about the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, “It will be a tough holiday for us with Mom gone. I’m already sad and have my moments but know we’ll get through it-the first of many firsts!!”
It’s understandable for her to be sad and, with bombs bursting in international air, East Coast Americans still reeling from hurricane Sandy, and many of our citizens, out-of-work, unable to pay their bills, this will be a rocky holiday season for many.
Sunday morning breakfast with freshly-squeezed orange juice, sliced bananas, a Gingerbread Spice Dutch Baby pancake and the New York Times – how civilized!
I’m mindful this will be a first holiday season for me also. Luckily this Fall has been joyful – my cup overflowing with good fortune, good health, good people and the kindness of strangers. I am grateful. Since there aren’t “Holiday 2012 Do-Over’s,” I’m determined to do my part to make these next six weeks merrily memorable.
Today would have been Michael’s 84th birthday, a joyous celebratory day which always kicked off the holidays for our family. I wanted this day to remain important and be happy so, of course, food needed to be involved.
Over the past few weeks I’ve received five new cookbooks. Gulp! Gulp! Gulp! Wouldn’t this be a perfect day to try a new recipe? How about something from Deb Perelman’s “the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, recipes and wisdom from an obsessive home cook.” ( I’ve been called obsessive a few times myself. Deb and I will get along fine.)
This morning I picked up her book and on page 11, I spied a picture of a Gingerbread Spice Dutch Baby pancake. It’s a golden concoction of rumpled goodness, flavored with winter spices, and simplistic in its ingredients. That picture spoke to me. A delicious breakfast to begin a dicey day. Why not? A perfect choice – magical to make, festive to see, and very tasty.
Process everything but the butter and toppings in your blender before pouring into a butter-coated ovenproof skillet. I used my cast iron skillet. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
This bright start to my day was followed by unpacking ornaments (drudgery), a lengthy hike (sunny and warm), and then running to my local theatre to see “Lincoln” (not particularly uplifting but a must-see). To continue my theme of “not particularly uplifting”, I’m now watching Ken Burns‘ documentary, “The Dust Bowl” on PBS. Probably not a great idea but, hey, it’s Ken Burns.
Still,I count this day as very successful, crediting a well-regarded cookbook and its delightfully flavorful rumply, bumpy pancake for providing the jumpstart. Thanks, Deb.
A nutritious but filling breakfast. As Deb says, “The batter is practically austere in its brief ingredient list and in that it contains only a modicum of sugar.”
GINGERBREAD SPICE DUTCH BABY
(slight flavoring and spice adaptions)
Yield: One 9-inch pancake
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon packed dark brown sugar
2 teaspoon unsulfured molasses*
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon*
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger*
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves*
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg*
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Powdered sugar, for dusting. Serve also with maple syrup or crème fraîche, if desired.
Directions
1.Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place the eggs in a blender and blend until smooth and pale in color. Add the brown sugar, molasses, flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, salt, and milk and blend until smooth.
2.Melt the butter in a 9-inch ovenproof skillet over high heat, swirling it up the sides to evenly coat the pan. Pour the batter into the skillet and transfer to the oven. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the pancake is puffed up. Remove from the oven, dust with powdered sugar. Serve with maple syrup or crème fraîche, if desired.
(Note: I doubled the amount of molasses and cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg, for additional flavor.)
Top-Secret Chocolate Mousse, a delicious bittersweet chocolate concoction that will dazzle your guests. It’s make-ahead simple. Serve it in individual portions or, as the French do, in a big bowl.
I almost think of this as a James Bond-moment. Are you on the edge of your seat?
The FFWD recipe this week is Top-Secret Chocolate Mousse. Truthfully, it was scheduled last week but I mistakenly baked Goat Cheese Mini-Puffs. (Loved them.) Luckily I went all bittersweet this week, anxious to be clued in on this hush-hush, don’t tell, mousse secrecy. We’ve uncoded the recipe for you also because Dorie already shared it in Bon Appetit. That means you won’t be a spy who didn’t come in from the cold. (Yeah, a stretch, I know.)
Don’t compromise on the quality of your bittersweet chocolate. Purchase a well-regarded brand.
As Dorie puts it, “There was a moment in time when I was convinced that all Parisian dinner-party givers either had the same magic touch with chocolate mousse or bought their great mousse from the same place and passed it off as their own.”
Coarsely chop 3 1/2 ounces of bittersweet chocolate before melting it carefully using the double boiler-process or in a microwave.
To Dorie’s delight, she was finally clued in by a Parisienne friend that French women follow the recipe on the back of a bar of Nestlé Dessert Chocolate to create mousse perfection.
BUSTED.
The melted chocolate, after the egg yolks have been added, followed with the whipped egg whites being folded into the mixture.
Its ingredients are too simple: bittersweet chocolate, 3 eggs, a salt pinch and a teaspoon or two of sugar. Voilà, chocolate mousse fantastique. If you care to add Kahlua, Cuarenta Y Tres (Licor 43) or Cointreau, for example, pour in a tablespoon of the liquor when you whisk the egg yolks into the melted chocolate. I added Cointreau for flavoring. Serve as is or add whipped cream/cème fraîche, if you like.
As you can see, this recipe makes four small portions of mousse. I had hoped to have enough to fill two Christmas teacups also but no such luck. Double the recipe if you are serving more than 4 portions.
As you can see in my photographs, I served my mousse in Christmas goblets. Tomorrow my neighbors extraordinaire, Dom and Ray, are taking me to buy my Christmas tree and will carry it into my house, putting it exactly where I wish. A little early, perhaps, but I am looking forward to the holidays this year and need a head start. I love everything about this Season of the year. As always, these guys to the rescue.
In keeping with “the theme”, tonight they shall enjoy Top-SecretChocolate Mousse for dessert —- in Christmas tree goblets!
This is a lovely and tasty dessert for the holidays, special occasion, dinner party or just because you love your family!
The other Doristas are baking Goat Cheese Mini-Puffs this week. These are delicious little morsels that every cook should have in their arsenal during the holiday season. Drop by French Fridays with Dorie to see their mini-puffs.
Before I joined the Doristas, the pastry dough, Pâte à Choux, translated deliciously to éclairs, slender oblong pastries filled with tasty pastry cream and finished with delicious glaze. Then my neighbor, Michelle, an extraordinary chef, expanded my repertoire by helping me make gougères (FFWD, p. 4, 10-01-10), the classic French cheese puff made with the same dough.
Goat-cheese Mini Puffs – These puffs are good slightly warm, at room temperature or even slightly chilled. I served them with Sancerre, a food-friendly, delicate French wine.
This week I was delighted to make another savory cream puff, Goat-Cheese Mini Puffs, which would be a perfect addition for cocktail time. I often have supper with my friends, Cathy and Fred, who live just two blocks and three hungry bears from my Condo. (Yep, our resident bears, who appear after dark, are still trolling for food.) Since I would be leaving Aspen soon, Cathy invited me to break bread with them, giving me a perfect opportunity to share this week’s recipe choice. (Disclaimer: This week’s recipe was supposed to be Top-Secret Chocolate Mousse but I mistakenly made next week’s choice. Perhaps it was a Freudian slip since I will be out of the high-altitude by next week. Can’t imagine making a souffle at 8200′.)
Pâte à Choux dough, a cooked mixture of milk, butter and flour to which eggs are added. Then, once put into puffs, it’s baking time.
I arrived in Colorado five weeks ago not only to celebrate my husband’s life but also to bring closure to the past 26 years. Now, it’s all about the memories. What I didn’t realize was there would have to be decisions made, sooner rather than later, about the path ahead. To be truthful, no one is pushing or prodding me to do anything, it’s me.
The little puffs are oven-ready and will be baked at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes. I needed the full 15 minutes to get them golden, firm, and puffy.
I always need to have A Plan. Organization is my middle name. Just love Lists. I thrive in a structured environment, with borders and roadmaps. For better or for worse, this is the skill set packed into my DNA toolbox. In fact, I once had a male friend who remarked, “I think I was put on this earth to make you spontaneous.”
Magic Puffs
Not too surprising, that friendship couldn’t last long! There probably is not one spontaneous bone in my body. My recent huffing and puffing about my “Make No Big Decisions for 12 Months” edict, is not going to happen. I knew I wanted to simplify my life. The first question was: What is that? And, the second question: How can I do it? Then, along came Atticus, a five-pound miniature schnauzer.
The filling, a mixture of herbed goat cheese, cream cheese and heavy cream is absolutely scrumptious. (tasty on Triscuits, too)
When I first got to Aspen, my friend, Jane, stopped by with a book, “Following Atticus, 48 high peaks, one little dog, and an entraordinary friendship.” “When you have time,” she said, “read this.”
Last week-end I finally did just that. “Following Atticus” is ultimately a story of transformation. It’s written by Tom Ryan, who, ironically, is a journalist also. By the time I finished it, my questions had been answered. I had a blueprint for the future. And, somehow, I would find the energy to bring it to fruition.
Next week I leave Aspen to return to Nevada for the winter………..with A Plan.
“The good of going into the mountains is that Life is reconsidered.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
To see how my colleagues who made the right recipe this week fared, go to our FFWD site.
This week it was really all about Sandy. Again, those of us who belong to this French Friday with Dorie gang were reminded of our being about much more than cooking. Soon after this hurricane had rock-and-rolled its malice and destruction up North America’s eastern coast, those of us left unscathed were checking on our colleagues.
News from them started to dribble in late Tuesday via Twitter, E-mail and Cell Phone. We all posted those updates on our FFWD Facebook page until we knew everyone was safe and accounted for albeit without power, conveniences and gasoline. Mother Nature’s power is humbling and I know we all hold the victims of this disaster in our hearts.
Mushroom and Shallot Quiche
This weeks FFWD recipe is a Mushroom and Shallot Quiche. Not too much different or unique about this quiche but it’s no-fail and absolutely delicious. “Mushrooms and shallots are a classic combination and the base of the traditional finely chopped filling called duxelles,” Dorie reminds us. “The result is a deep, earthy flavor.”
Spread 1 TBS of fresh minced thyme on the half-baked tart shell before adding the filling.
To that I would add a bold, even strong, taste. Besides salt and pepper, fresh thyme is the only herb used in this dish. Thyme bows to no one, edging out both the shallots and scallions to bring an edge to this quiche.
The classic combination of mushrooms and shallots, finely chopped, which is the basis of the filling called duxelles.
Dorie provides the recipe to this excellent quiche here. It’s fast, easy (serve warm or at room temperature) and goes well with soup, salad or on its own.
Oven-ready
This was not a sharing week at the Hirsch household, shameful as that may sound. This quiche was so tasty, I decided to eat the entire dish by myself………….yep, you got it, real women do eat quiche. To see if other Doristas were better at sharing this week, go here.
Gone. No sharing this week.
I also want to echo Diane Balch’s column this week about Voting in the upcoming American election. A democracy only works if every citizen is engaged, participating in the process. In the 2008 presidential election a disappointing 43.2% of eligible Americans did not vote.
The past few weeks I have been working for my candidates. Both parties are all about Getting-out-the-Vote. To that end, I commited to helping my Party’s choices by standing at Aspen’s HIghway 82 S-Curve at 7:30 a.m., waving signs promoting early voting and candidates while a constant ribbon of cars and trucks come into town. We’re talkin’ hundreds. Might I mention that it’s Colorado cold here – 40 degrees? God bless America.
Getting Out the Vote, 7:30am, Aspen, Colorado, 40 degrees
To be honest, it’s been crazy fun. One of my first thoughts was “Here I go, embarrassing my children again.” But, when the Thursday edition of the Aspen Times carried a picture of us in our early-morning “Get-Out-The-Vote Poster Wave”, Melissa plastered it on her Facebook Page. “That’s my mom in the middle! I don’t care what side you are on, this is a GREAT country!
This morning at 7:30A.M., the last day of Early Voting, there were eight of us, bundled up and ready to wave. We’ve always received honks, thumbs up, thumbs down, and the #$@%#@!% shout-outs. This morning, our last, and, it being Friday after all, we decided to throw in a little choreography. Yes, sign-routines. The car, truck, and bus crowd loved it, parties be hanged.
Why do I do this? America has a population of 157 million women. Only 46.2% of females 18 and older voted in our last national election (2010). As far as I’m concerned that’s just not good enough. If I lived in Brunei or Saudi Arabia, for example, I wouldn’t even be able to vote. If I had lived in the United States before 1920, I couldn’t have voted either. My standing on a Colorado street corner in freezing temperatures urging people to vote pales in comparison to the efforts of our Sisters who won the vote for us:
“The 19th Amendment to the Constitution, giving the right to vote to women (1920) took 72 years:
and, required 56 referendum campaigns, 47 campaigns to get state constitutional conventions to write women’s suffrage into state constitutions, 480 drives to get state legislatures to hold those referendums (5 referendum campaigns in South Dakota alone), 277 campaigns to get state party conventions to include women’s suffrage planks, 30 campaigns to get presidential party campaigns to include women’s suffrage planks in their platforms and, 19 campaigns with 19 successive Congresses.” ***
If Laughter is the best medicine and an apple a day keeps the doctor away, I’m looking at healthy. This has been a week carbo-loaded with Life’s joys and nature’s wonder. It’s also been days of peeling Granny Smith apples, tossing them in the crockpot and producing enough hunky applesauce to feed the populace of Colorado.
It’s because of joy, wonder, and, yes, even applesauce, that I am tardy in posting this week’s French Friday with Dorie recipe, a scrumptious Chicken Tagine with Sweet Potatoes and Prunes ( I used Dates).
It’s Friday. We’re scrambling to get Dorie’s Chicken Tagine with Sweet Potatoes and Dates plated. Probably not going to make the FFWD deadline. Donna, the Forest Conservancy treasurer and Fred, a volunteer Forest Ambassador, are not sympathetic to my small kitchen and lack of equipment. Fred’s wife, Cathy, was visiting her sister who lives in Portland and missed the meal.
Let me explain. First, the applesauce. My philosophy, which I have finally come to regret, is that if more is better, more, more, more is best. Granny Smith apples were on sale this week and, not wanting to miss out on a great price, I overbought. Peeling apples gulps up chunks of time.
Last Monday I celebrated my birthday. My enterprising friend, Jane, always, always, always scouts out the greatest gifts. This year she outdid herself by finding a vintage felt Ranger hat, with the label, Campaign, authenticated with “sweat” marks on its headband. I will wear it when I’m a volunteer Wilderness Ranger next Summer.
As for Mother Nature’s wonder, she dumped it here last week. It’s called snow and Coloradans are ecstatic. As they should be. This state cries for moisture and its ski resorts beg for the white stuff. Having evaded such nonsense for the past eight years while living in Nevada, I found myself ill-prepared. No boots. No mittens. No car snow scraper. You name it, I didn’t have it. I declared myself a snow emergency and took a time-out to regroup.
Two days later, Mother Nature blew into town, leaving a snowy message and erasing any hopes of more Indian Summer days.
The joys have been in bringing closure to the journey of a good man and a life well-lived. For the past three months my family and I have been discussing how best to honor Michael with a memorial of some type. Although we wanted it to be meaningful and significant, we are not a family of great wealth, charitable trusts nor much discretionary income.
As our friend, Lloyd, said in his eulogy to Michael, “He never confused his self-worth with his net-worth. Getting rich was not his goal in life. His life’s goal was taking care of his patients and he did that very well.”
While hiking in the Rockies in late August, we encountered freshman college students exploring our trail system during orientation week. They all wanted ( and, received ) Smokey the Bear stickers for their backpacks from volunteer Wilderness Rangers, Sandy (l) and Ruth.
There are all kinds of tiny, hand-to-mouth organizations in every community and Aspen is no exception. But it was a no-brainer to choose the ForestConservancy, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the White River National Forest and serving the community (that’s all of you) who enjoys it.
The FC was established in 2001 by four Aspenites concerned about the lack of government-paid personnel (Rangers) available to protect and monitor the 2.3 million acres of the WRNF. What began with four, quickly grew to fourteen (when I joined), and now is well over one-hundred volunteers who serve as Wilderness Rangers, Forest Ambassadors and certified Master Naturalists.
Hiking with volunteer Wilderness Rangers Annie (L) and Donna (R). Donna amazes me with her knowledge of Rocky Mountain flowers and vegetation. I love to hike with her. As you can see, I cannot be issued my uniform again until I pass my certification and jump through some hoops. I’m not taking this personally, the Forest Conservancy means business.
The FC collaborates with the USDA Forest Service and thirteen other partners to hike and monitor our trails. Today, more than a decade later, the FC is an indispensable arm of the Forest Service and BLM and…………always strapped for cash.
What better way to recognize a man who not only skiied these mountains for fifty straight years but also grumbled his way through three to five-mile hikes every summer with his wife. Once decided, my brother and sister-in-law made a very, very generous contribution to the FC in Michael’s name which I will match. Happily, we’re in business. A win-win for everyone.
Sometimes we even chat-up the guys we meet on the trail because they are good-lookin’ !!!
Last Friday night, three FC friends, all FC volunteers, joined me for dinner to celebrate, thus having the opportunity to sample Dorie’s FFWD recipe choice. Once again, this week’s recipe, Chicken Tagine with Sweet Potatoes and Prunes, was fabulous. Luckily, you can find the recipe here. I served this one-dish meal with Yotam Ottolenghi’s Beet, Orange and Black Olive Salad (recipe here) saffron risotto and crusty bread. Needing a light dessert, we enjoyed daughter Melissa’s crockpot applesauce (warm) over Dulce de Leche ice cream.
Mise en Place for the Chicken Tagine with Sweet Potatoes and Prunes. Notice I substituted Dates for Prunes.
Donna, who coincidentally, is the FC treasurer, loved this tagine’s spices – saffron, cinnamon, cayenne, star anise and bay leaves. “There are no sharp edges to this dish,” she remarked, “it’s just round and mellow.”
Her husband, Bernie, who is a Forest Ambassador at our beloved Maroon Bells, brought bottles of well-regarded Chateau De Paraza red wine from the Minervois AOC region of the Lanquedoc. It was fruitier than a Bordeaux with an earthy, rustic taste that complimented the tagine.
At last, dinner is served. The verdict? Tasty. Delicious. Very good.
My only tagine suggestions which I offer are:
1. For fuller flavoring, steep the saffon threads in the 1/2 cup of warmed water needed in the tagine.
2. Because it is topped with toasted chopped walnuts, I substituted walnut oil for the plain olive oil.
3. I chose Dates over Prunes.
To see what the Doristas, my colleagues who did meet the Friday deadline cooked up, go here.
